Professor Craig Wedderspoon is one of three inaugural recipients of the new McMahon-Pleiad Prize, given by the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama System. The prize has been awarded to a collaborative public art project, the UA System Art Trail, conceived by Wedderspoon and his colleagues Stacey Holloway of UAB's department of art and art history and Chris Taylor of UAH's department of art, art history, and design. Established by the Board to honor Trustee Emeritus John J. McMahon, Jr., the McMahon-Pleiad Prize advances collaboration in the UA System, consistent with the vision and leadership of Trustee Emeritus McMahon. The Prize includes a $75,000 one-time award, underwritten by the McMahon family, which will be shared equally among the three UA System art departments to cover the cost of project materials and related expenses. At each of the three UA System campuses, each group will design and create a durable, well-crafted public sculpture that enhances the visual aesthetic of each campus. The three outdoor pieces will rotate every two years, then return to their originating campus for permanent installation. Each team plans to unveil the sculptures before June 2019. According to UA News Center, a primary goal of the public art trail is to create opportunities for faculty and students in all three System art departments to discuss, develop and install projects collaboratively. Students will be able to share their designs with new and expanded audiences. According to the proposal, which was chosen from more than a dozen entries, “The McMahon-Pleiad Public Art Trail has the potential to visually enhance the entire UA System with an innovative, world-class public art program.” Professor Wedderspoon described the project's progress on UA's campus so far: "I put it out to my sculpture students as a design competition and junior BFA sculpture major Ringo Lisko’s proposal has been chosen. She has just started working on the wax for a scale model. Next she will get to work on the full-scale piece." Board president pro tem Ronald Gray described the public art trail project: “It represents the essence of collaboration and creative excellence that defines our friend and colleague John McMahon and our System.” For more information about the UA Department of Art and Art History and our programs, go here: https://art.ua.edu/about/
UA Alumnus Creates Giant Working Kaleidoscope
Ever had a sudden urge to peer through a giant kaleidoscope? Now you can! The latest permanent public sculpture, titled simply Kaleidoscope, is designed and built by UA art alumnus and foundry specialist Eric Nubbe, and has been installed by UA Art Foundry at Snow Hinton Park in Tuscaloosa. Commissioned by Tuscaloosa PARA, the seven-foot-high aluminum sculpture is a working, interactive kaleidoscope, perched at the northwest corner of the park. Since kaleidoscopes are shaped like a simple tube, Nubbe decided to make the massive optical instrument more interesting, so he chose the shape of a sextant - another viewing instrument which sailors have used to navigate the seas for hundreds of years. The kaleidoscope looks northwest into the sky over Tuscaloosa and the mirrors inside the kaleidoscope reflect whatever the skies look like on that day. In many kaleidoscopes, loose pieces of colored glass inside the tube are mirrored into symmetrical and colorful patterns as you turn the scope. Nubbe decided to add something similar to his. Instead of just looking up into refracted reflections of the sky, viewers look through translucent blue Plexiglas gears that Nubbe cut [on?]. When visitors look into the viewer, they rotate a disk just to the right of the scope, and the disk turns the blue gears inside, creating beautiful blue patterns across the sky. Eric Nubbe's Kaleidoscope is part of a Public Art Project commissioned by the Tuscaloosa County Parks and Recreation Authority to put art in parks around Tuscaloosa County. Giant steel flowers created by student artists Ringo Lisko and Amber Daum were installed last year in Monnish Park as part of the same project.
UA Art Students Conspire in Monster Coup of Tuscaloosa
Terrifying monsters of all shapes and sizes have overrun the city of Tuscaloosa! Termed the "Monster Takeover," official reports verify that UA art students were heavily involved in the invasion of bronze handmade monsters, stationing their terrifying, but usually tiny, metal miscreations in key locations around town. Track them down at your own risk! Multiple locations in downtown Tuscaloosa are the sites of Monster Takeover, an extension of the Monster Makeover program established by the Tuscaloosa News in 2010. Combining the creative talents of local elementary school children and UA students, the Takeover features bronze sculptures placed at various locations in downtown area. Monster Takeover used the same process as the original program, but the artists were all students in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Alabama. The UA students’ works, based on past Monster Makeover participants, were all sculpted and then cast in bronze, under the direction of Professor Craig Wedderspoon. Placed in various locations throughout downtown Tuscaloosa, the monsters are now on public display. Junior BFA major in sculpture, Ringo Lisko's sculpture, inspired by the art of elementary student Lawson Kelly, is on the I-beam at Harrison Galleries, 2315 University Boulevard, overlooking the sidewalk. Lisko is also co-creator of the Monnish Park sculpture, Amaryllis, with Amber Daum. Said Lisko, “I am very excited to be a part of Monster Takeover, especially since I got to be in on the very first wave of monsters to go up around town. It was a great experience working with the kids’ drawings, and trying to do justice to their awesome imaginations. I’m also thrilled to be adding to the public art of Tuscaloosa. I strongly believe that public art is an integral part of a well-rounded and lively community, and I hope that these monsters help to keep that momentum going!” Recent BFA graduate Kalypso Homan's sculpture, inspired by the art of elementary student Lili Gann, is at the corner of University Blvd. and 23rd Street. Sophomore double major in art history and English Sarah Murphree's sculpture, inspired by the art of elementary student Natalie Nelson, is located on 6th Street and 23rd Avenue (Water Collection?) under the park bench. UA Student Maddie Kennedy's sculpture, inspired by the art of elementary student Jordyn Green, is located near the Light in Government Plaza. Senior BFA major Jenn Gault's sculpture, inspired by the art of elementary student Sally Poole is at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center on the corner of Greensboro Avenue and 7th Street. Gault has a concentration in sculpture and ceramics with a minor in anthropology. Senior BFA major Jonathan Lanier's sculpture, inspired by the art of elementary student Ryan Zheng, is located in Five, on 6th Street, above the bar. UA graduate student: Josh Dugat's sculpture, inspired by the art of elementary student Denny Stuffel, is located near Babe’s Doughnuts on the corner of University Blvd. and Greensboro Avenue. Senior double major in New College and studio art Megan Fletcher's sculpture, inspired by the art of elementary student Megan Roberts, is at the Government Plaza 6th Street entrance pillar, crawling toward the plaque. Sophomore art major Zane Boyd's sculpture, inspired by the art of elementary student Dai’Quan O’Neal, is located at the Bama Theatre, 600 Greensboro Avenue. For more information about the UA Department of Art and Art History academic programs, go here: https://art.ua.edu/academics/.
UA Professor’s Work Installed at Montgomery Museum’s New Sculpture Garden
Professor Craig Wedderspoon's sculpture, Oval, is part of the Montgomery Museum of Arts new John and Joyce Caddell Sculpture Garden, which opened September 30, 2018.
New Sculpture in the Garden
Like an exotic flower that blooms overnight, a new sculpture has recently appeared in the Woods Quad Sculpture Garden. Mobius and Borromean Rings was designed and created in steel by marketing major and studio art minor Paget Kern. Kern, who has taken sculpture courses for her art minor and makes jewelry at home, designed the work in a collaborative project with students in the departments of Math and Art and Art History. She linked two complex mathematical ideas together in a massive sculptural example. Kern explained that the design is “a triple Möbius strip tied together in a Borromean knot.” Kern's monumental sculpture joins a bouquet that includes work by nationally known sculptors, art faculty and former sculpture students. At the center of the garden is Craig Wedderspoon, "Quilted Vessel," 2013, cast and welded aluminum. "Montgomery Marker" by Craig Wedderspoon, in the Woods Quad Sculpture Garden, UA campus Lindsay Jones Lindsey, "Fibonacci Spiral" installed in the Woods Quad Sculpture Garden, 2014. Billy Lee, Homage to Brancusi, 1993, 138 x 28.5 x 12.5 inches; painted steel. Joe McCreary, "Goldie 1971," 2009, iron and steel; approx. 23 ft., in 2018, in the Woods Quad Sculpture Garden. Read more about the Woods Quad Sculpture Garden and UA's public sculpture. Go here for more information on The University of Alabama's Department of Art and Art History.
UA Art Foundry Casts Sculpture Across Alabama
Towering steel flowers, a massive mathematical loop-de-loop, larger-than-life baseball players and renown university presidents are just a few of the projects, supervised by Professor of Art Craig Wedderspoon, that have been created in the giant work bays at UA's art foundry. From Tuscaloosa to Gadsden, sculptures from the foundry find homes around the state. It takes skill and determination, caution and daring to see complex design projects grow from drawings and models to finished public sculptures. Wedderspoon and his team – foundry specialists Eric Nubbe, Joe McCreary and Ringo Lisko, with senior arts technicians Patrick O'Sullivan and Mike Eddins – work with strict safety standards and an inventiveness that keep all the machinery running smoothly behind those gigantic sliding garage doors on Margaret Drive. Now, a monumental new sculpture, cast in the foundry, is ready to become part of the Woods Quad Sculpture Garden. Mobius and Borromean Rings is designed and created by marketing major and studio art minor Paget Kern. Kern, who has taken sculpture courses for her art minor and makes jewelry at home, designed the work in a collaborative project with students in the departments of Math and Art and Art History. She linked two complex mathematical ideas together in a massive sculptural example. Kern explained that the design is “a triple Möbius strip tied together in a Borromean knot.” We’ve all seen the three inter-linked rings of a Borromean ring or knot. A Möbius strip can be made by twisting a strip of paper and adhering the ends together to create a continuous circle that is “unorientable.” If you walked along a center line on the loop, you would go around the Möbius strip twice before coming back to its starting point. The long and the short of it is that you’ll have to go see the sculpture for yourself when the giant twisted loops of welded steel sculpture are installed in the Woods Quad Sculpture Garden this summer. Up north in Gadsden, alumnus and staff member Eric Nubbe's public sculpture, commissioned by Walnut Gallery on behalf of the Gadsden Public Library, has been installed in the green space in front of the library. Just in Time is 7 feet high, 5 feet wide, 7 feet long and made of steel. Nubbe is working on a second sculptural project for the City of Florence’s bicentennial celebration to be fabricated in the foundry: a 20-foot steel musician overlooking the Tennessee River. Past projects of the foundry include a statue of past UA president and UA System Chancellor Robert Witt in Presidential Plaza on UA campus; the nine-foot tall statue of Willie Mays in Regions Field; student-designed and -built bicycle racks in Alberta Park and downtown Tuscaloosa; Amaryllis and accompanying park benches by undergrads Lisko and Amber Daum in Monnish Park; and iron benches for Schoolyard Roots (Druid City Garden Project); among others. The most intensive upcoming projects are related to Tuscaloosa’s and Alabama’s Bicentennial celebrations in 2019. They were competitive commissions awarded to Tuscaloosa artist Caleb O’Connor, Wedderspoon and the foundry. For the state’s commemoration, O’Connor designed sixteen 3-foot by 2-foot high relief bronze panels depicting scenes from Alabama’s history to be cast at the foundry and paired with sixteen interpretive text panels. The entire work is scheduled for unveiling in Montgomery in December of 2019, so mark your calendars! For more information about the UA Department of Art and Art History and its programs, visit this link: https://art.ua.edu/academics/ or contact the department at (205) 348-5967.
Innovative Bike Rack Design Duo Strike Again
Two UA studio art alumni recently completed a set of innovative bicycle racks, the second of their kind, for the City of Tuscaloosa. The unique, sculptural bike racks, designed by Brandt Deeds (BA 2017) and built by Deeds and Alli Sloan (BA 2015) were installed at the new Alberta Park, next door to The Gateway, Alberta’s Technology and Innovation Center on University Boulevard, during the first week of September 2017. Alberta Park is part of a larger project of rebuilding and improvements in Tuscaloosa along the path of the April 27, 2011, tornado. Both bike racks are part of a plan, supported by the City of Tuscaloosa, The University of Alabama and other community organizations to encourage more biking in and around Tuscaloosa. From the beginning, Deeds and Sloan have been enthusiastic about the design-build project. Professor Craig Wedderspoon, who has been overseeing their work in the UA art foundry, said that they easily worked together because they were on the same page from the start. “Alli and Brandt are both avid bikers so they know what bikers want in bike racks, what adaptations are needed, like the way locks fit or how many bikes can actually fit in a public rack. They each came up with designs on their own and when we met, we realized their ideas were very similar.” Last summer, Alli Sloan designed the bike racks at 4th Street and 23rd Avenue downtown and then she and Deeds built those. This summer, Deeds’ design was built by Sloan and Deeds for Alberta Park. Like its predecessor in downtown Tuscaloosa, the Alberta Park set’s unusual design is innovative and practical. The designs are similar in size, but each is unique unto itself and quite different from standard bike racks. Sloan described her bike rack design as “an organic, wave-like composition.” The steel pipes in each design curve are undulating circles that echo the shapes of bicycle wheels, creating eye-catching patterns that stand out like sculpture. But those undulations have a practical value, too. Sloan said that the variety of sizes of loops in the rack’s design allows bikers with U-locks to more easily lock up their bicycles. Both bike racks can hold up to sixteen bikes each, as opposed to only seven bikes on the factory-made designs that would have been used. Each student brings a unique skill set to the project. Originally an engineering student, Brandt Deeds graduated in the summer of 2017 with a BA in studio art, focusing on sculpture, and a minor in mechanical engineering. Alli Sloan double-majored in advertising and studio art with a focus on graphic design in 2015. Both alumni also designed and built steel sculptures for the Nucor Children’s Charity Classic silent auction and took courses in sculpture with Professor Craig Wedderspoon. For more information about The University of Alabama’s programs in studio art and art history, go here: https://art.ua.edu/academics/graduate-programs/art-requirements/.
UA Sophomores Sculpt Steel Flowers for Monnish Park
Tuscaloosa -- The giant flowers that have arched above the UA art foundry behind the Bureau of Mines for several weeks will have a new home soon! The steel sculpture was designed and created this summer by two sophomore sculpture students at UA, Ringo Lisko and Amber Daum. It was commissioned by The Arts Council of Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County Park & Recreation Authority (PARA) and The University of Alabama Department of Art and Art History as part of the Tuscaloosa Public Art Project and will be installed at Annette M. Shelby Park on 15th Street in Tuscaloosa. UPDATE! The sculpture Amaryllis has been installed in Monnish Park, on the corner of 15th Street and Hackberry Lane. Above: Undergraduates Amber Daum’s and Ringo Lisko’s 12-foot tall aluminum and steel "Amaryllis," commissioned by Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority and the Arts & Humanities Council of Tuscaloosa, was installed in Monnish Park today! Thanks to Professor Craig Wedderspoon for the photo. Read more about their public sculpture project here.
Tobias Layman MFA Thesis Exhibition
Graduate student in sculpture Tobias Layman will present his master of fine arts thesis exhibition, Out of Order, at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center in The Arts Council Gallery March 12-30, 2018. A reception for the artist will be held Thursday, March 22 from 5-7 pm. Layman works in kinetic sculpture created from wood, metal and found objects. He writes in his artist statement that his sculptures are something more than the run-of-the-mill machine. They "share experiences and sensations for an audience. The rough and unrefined aesthetic give the machines character and personality. The machines play with found objects in a way to trigger memories for an audience. Without the object the machine is a just a machine, but with the object the machine now has a sentient purpose. The object serves as a way for the machine to better engage with an audience. A conversation is started, centered around the found object. The machine tells a story and, in turn, generates stories from an audience. The machine will tell the same story in the same manner, but the audience will interact with that story and change it in their own way. This is the intent of my kinetic sculptures. They are the means for people to share a common bond and relation with a machine, but also interact and engage with other people." Tobias Layman is a graduate student in sculpture , with an assistantship teaching courses in Ceramics I, Drawing I and 3D Design. Layman received the BFA, cum laude, in ceramics, from Jacksonville State University in 2014. He presented his MA exhibition, Grinding Away, in February 2017 at the Sella-Granata Art Gallery on UA campus. He has exhibited in national and regional exhibitions including 35 Live: CoCA Member’s Show, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA; DAMNED IX, Detroit, MI; A Different Vision, Plymouth, MA; The Big Dance Exhibit, a juried exhibition in Des Moines, IA; and Abstracts Art Exhibition, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, where he received an honorable mention. In 2017, he took third place at the KAO International Kinetic Art Competition in Boynton Beach, Florida. Layman has been a studio assistant for the Department of Art at Jacksonville State University, an assistant instructor at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, and an instructor and ceramic technician at Earthworks Pottery Studio in Rome, GA. He is a recipient of the Thames Endowed Scholarship and the Joseph and Allen Sella Endowed Scholarship at UA. See videos of Tobias Layman's kinetic sculptures here: http://talsculpture.weebly.com/videos.html. A gallery talk he gave during the department’s 2017 Graduate Student Show about his work process is in a video here: https://vimeo.com/240537838. This exhibition is in partial fulfillment of the Master of Fine Arts degree in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Alabama. For more information on the graduate programs of the UA department of art and art history, visit this link: http://art.ua.edu/academics/graduate-programs/art-requirements/. The Arts Council Gallery is open weekdays 9 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m. with free admission. The Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center is located at 620 Greensboro Avenue in Downtown Tuscaloosa. For more information about the CAC, The Arts Council or Bama Theatre, patrons should LIKE the Facebook page “The Arts Council – Bama Theatre – Cultural Arts Center” and follow tuscarts on Twitter. Call 205-758-5195 or visit tuscarts.org for further information.